Popular Mechanics, who published a fabulous book titled "Debunking 9/11 Myths," has responded to Rosie O'Donnell's conspiracy-laden rant on ABC's "The View."
In particular, O'Donnell claimed that WTC 7 was imploded in a controlled demolition and that she believes "that it’s the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel." PM says that couldn't be further from the truth:
Towers 1 and 7 were approximately 300 ft. apart, and pictures like the ones here and here offer a clear visual of how small that distance is for structures that large. After further studies, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) told Popular Mechanics that debris from the 110-floor North Tower hit WTC7 with the force of a volcanic eruption. Nearly a quarter of the building was carved away over the bottom 10 stories on its south face, and significant damage was visible up to the 18th floor (see p. 24 of this report, and the screengrab below of an image of WTC7's damaged south face).
The North and South Towers of the World Trade Center weren’t knocked down by planes--they both stood for more than a half-hour after the impacts. But the crashes destroyed support columns and ignited infernos that ultimately weakened--not melted--the steel structures until the towers could no longer support their own weights (NIST offers a primer here). Ms. O’Donnell fundamentally misstates the case with her use of the word "melted": Evidence currently points to WTC7 also collapsing because fires weakened its ravaged steel structure.
Tower 7 housed the city's emergency command center, so there were a number of fuel tanks located throughout the building--including two 6000-gal. tanks in the basement that fed some generators in the building by pressurized lines. “Our working hypothesis is that this pressurized line was supplying fuel [to the fire] for a long period of time,” according to Sunder. Steel melts at about 2,750 degrees Fahrenheit--but it loses strength at temperatures as low as 400 F. When temperatures break 1000 degrees F, steel loses nearly 50 percent of its strength. It is unknown what temperatures were reached inside WTC7, but fires in the building raged for seven hours before the collapse.
Popular Mechanics didn't have to respond to Rosie O'Donnell, but they did. Rosie asked for proof and suggested that they could bring someone on "The View" to explain it, but I'm willing to bet that they won't have the courage to have the folks from PM on.
Rosie O'Donnell is an ignorant blowhard. Thanks to Popular Mechanics for dropping some science on her.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
